It is my pleasure to congratulate the Southern Medical Program (SMP) Class of 2020 on graduating from medical school and earning their medical degrees. While the world seemed to stand still for the past two months, you have steadfastly prepared for the next chapter of your career as newly-minted physicians.

In a time of unprecedented change and unique challenges, it’s been inspiring to watch you volunteer to help front-line physicians and assist patients remotely during the pandemic. Our faculty and staff have been deeply proud of your resiliency and ability to adapt during uncertain circumstances.

While we were unable to celebrate graduation in a traditional sense, it does not diminish the outstanding accomplishments you have achieved during the past four years and tremendous resolve to fulfill your educational goals.

I’m thrilled to see our new graduates head off across BC and Canada to pursue their passions and future career paths as family physicians and specialists. Here are a few highlights from the SMP Class of 2020:

• 32 new physicians educated and trained in the BC Interior.

• 17 graduates matched to family medicine including two graduates in the BC Interior with the Kamloops and Kootenay Boundary sites.

• 15 graduates matched to Royal College specialty programs including anesthesiology (2), dermatology, diagnostic radiology, emergency medicine, internal medicine (2), neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics (2), psychiatry (3), and vascular surgery.

• 13 students matched to UBC residency programs.

We have given you the foundation to learn the practice of medicine and continue to become healers within your communities. Cherish the memories and lifelong friendships formed during your time with SMP. Ensure to take time for yourself and find your balance. Firmly believe in yourself and trust your instincts to guide your practice.

Best of success in your future career and please stay in touch. I hope you will thoroughly consider returning to the region to practice if and when the time is right.

Dr. Sarah Brears Regional Associate Dean, Interior and UBC Faculty of Medicine

CLASS OF 2020

MESSAGE FROM THE Regional Associate Dean, Interior

FACULTY OF MEDICINE | SOUTHERN MEDICAL PROGRAM | GRADUATION NEWSLETTER

Medical school has provided its share of challenges and saying goodbye to the Southern Medical Program is certainly a bittersweet one. When we arrived in winter of 2017, we could not imagine the close friendships, wonderful teachers, and amazing experiences we’d have four years later.

I believe the class of 2020 is truly special, evidenced by our strong relationships and achievements. Although we come from different backgrounds and life experiences, over our four years at the SMP we have become one big family. Medical school tested our mettle, but the shared challenges fostered supportive friendships that will last a lifetime. Over these four years, I watched my peers in the class of 2020 grow into strong, intelligent, compassionate professionals. I am proud that everyone matched in this year’s CaRMS match. Additionally, our achievements extended beyond academics. During our time at the SMP, we conducted research, participated in community initiatives, mentored classmates in years below us, and some of us even started families of our own. My classmates are kind, considerate people who will be well-rounded leaders in their fields - future patients are in good hands.

I’d like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who has championed us throughout our medical training at the SMP. Thank you to our small group tutors and lab teachers for channeling our curiosity and laying the foundation of our medical knowledge. Thank you to our clinical preceptors for taking time out of your busy practices to mentor us and give us the necessarily skills for our futurepractice. Thank you to the SMP faculty and staff for working tirelessly in the background to make these four years come together. Finally, thank you to all our families and friends, for your love and support these four years. Taking a step back, it’s easy to see we wouldn’t be here today without all of you.

I am truly lucky to be a member of the SMP Class of 2020. It was like winning the lottery twice to receive guidance from out many amazing teachers and mentors in the company of a fantastic group of peers.

MESSAGE FROM THE Southern Medical Program Class of 2020

It is with full minds and hearts that we say goodbye to our home for the last four years. We all hold cherished memories of our time here. Although we are excited to take the next steps in our future careers, our time here in the SMP has left its indelible mark on all of us.

Patricia Massel, President, Southern Medical Program Class of 2020

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AHMAD AL-ABDULJABARI am so grateful for the past four years of training at the Southern Medical Program. It’s been an honour and a privilege to meet and work alongside such amazing, caring and inspiring colleagues, I will cherish all the memories we have made together, and I can’t wait to see where life takes us. Thank you to all the preceptors, staff, and mentors in Kelowna for their unwavering support and for making the SMP an exceptional learning environment. I can’t imagine a better place to have studied medicine. I look forward to starting my next chapter at UofT Family Medicine Program in Mississauga, ON. Congratulations SMP 2020 and good luck!

ABBY ARNOLD I feel so grateful to have been a part of the SMP alongside wonderful and brilliant peers these past four years. Thank you to all the friends, family, and mentors who have supported me along the way. I am excited to start my next chapter at University of Toronto Psychiatry. Thank you to all the faculty and staff at SMP for the exceptional training. And best of luck to all my SMP 2020 family with their future endeavours!

VICTORIA BASS To be honest, the only reason I attended the site information session at my UBC medical school interview was to partake in the free pizza. By the end, though, despite being unable to locate Kelowna on a map, I desperately wanted to go to the SMP. Never before has pizza had such a profound effect on my life. Training at the SMP – in both Kelowna and Kamloops – has been an incredible privilege. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this program. There are not enough thanks in the world to offer to the extraordinary staff, faculty, and preceptors who make our experience and education so exceptional; nor words to express the admiration and respect I hold for every one of my classmates. As I embark upon neurosurgery residency at McMaster, I will always be proud to call SMP 2020 my class and my home.

RACHEL BLAIR From what I’d heard, med school wasn’t supposed to be this much fun! Thank you to each and every one of the SMP faculty for putting your love into our training. Thank you to my family for the endless support. Most of all, thank you to the Class of 2020. I wouldn’t be smiling nearly so much at the end of all this if not for the good memories made with all of you. I can’t wait to see what you all do next. Regardless, please continue posting all looming deadlines to our Facebook page, ideally those related to UBC Anesthesia. It’s been a treat, see you all soon!

BREANNE CADHAM We did it! These past four years have been an adventure and I feel so lucky to have shared it with this incredible group of humans. Every one of you are kind, funny, quirky, thoughtful and caring and I am so excited to see you become awesome and inspiring physicians. Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this including my friends, family, SMP staff, and mentors. It has been a privilege completing medical school in Kelowna where I have been able to create life-long relationships. I am excited to be starting my Family Medicine Residency in Peterborough, Ontario! Although we aren’t able to say goodbye in person, I know we will all celebrate together soon.

REBECCA COMEAU Thank you to my preceptors, classmates, and SMP staff. Your compassion, perspective, and patience helped to catalyze genuinely transformative growth. Your efforts are kept in greatest gratitude. Thank you for lunch-hour yoga, for Valentine’s day cards, for paintball, for our laughter, comradery, and everything we shared. I truly cannot imagine a greater group of people to train with, and I am honoured to have lived this chapter with each and every one of you. You will always be my SMP Family.

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RACHEL COOK I feel so fortunate to have been given the privilege of studying medicine as part of the SMP class of 2020. Medical school has been an incredible experience, and I am so grateful to be returning to Kamloops to complete my residency in family medicine. Going to medical school with three kids at home was not easy, but my family and I feel so blessed to have made it to this point in our journey. Thank you to the staff at SMP, to all of my preceptors, to the friends I have made, and to my husband and family for being so supportive. I look forward to everything the future holds. Congratulations to all the other SMP grads, you rock and good luck with your residencies!

CHASE CRISFIELD Thanks everyone for such an amazing 4 years! I had such a fantastic time getting to know the medical community in Kelowna and Kamloops and can’t imagine a better medical school experience. While I am excited to start my rural family practice residency in Prince George, I will miss my classmates and mentors in the Interior community.

JEREMY DICK What a great experience, to have had the opportunity to complete medical school and moreover, to have done so in the Okanagan valley with the Southern Medical Program. I am thankful for our supportive staff members and classmates that helped make the experience so positive. Congratulations to our class and I wish us all the best with our upcoming journeys.

HANNAH DREKSLER It’s been a blast, my friends! I’ll miss the trails, cherries, sunsets, and post-call powder days. Thanks to everyone, especially Gabie, for the love, laughs, and learning.

KYLA FREEMAN Four years ago, writing my SMP introduction, I had no idea what to expect. Writing this and reflecting on all the wonderful people I have met, I am deeply saddened that this will be my only goodbye to many of you. I am incredibly grateful to have been part of this community. From excellent academic opportunities, to baby showers, to outdoor adventures, and unparalleled potlucks (!) I will always look back on these years fondly. I want to say a huge thank you to the faculty in Kelowna and Kamloops for all their dedication and support. And to my classmates – you are all going to shine so brightly! Thank you to each and every one of you for being part of this experience, for beautiful friendships, and for helping me cultivate a vision for the type of doctor I hope to one day become. I hope my next community, Lethbridge Rural Family Medicine, will be as welcoming, fun, and inspiring as this one has been!

NICKI GABERS Wow – the past 4 years have flown by! I feel so lucky to have had the chance to explore the Interior and call both Kelowna and Kamloops my home. While I am excited to move on to the next big adventure (a rural family practice residency in Prince George), I will miss the close friends I made with the SMP 2020 class. I feel lucky to have so many smart people to answer all my questions for the rest of my career!

JILL GILROY Congratulations everyone! You trained your dogs as therapy dogs so the class could have consistent puppy therapy. You paddled to Rattlesnake Island with a hole in your boat because you were that committed to a camping plan. You joined me for runs at 5am so I wouldn’t have to do my race training alone. You planned treasure hunts on rural family electives for the students coming in after you. You’re the best people I could have spent the last four years with. To my classmates who became family, I’m celebrating each of you and everything you’ve accomplished; our time at the SMP will always be something that connects us. I’m endlessly grateful to the faculty and mentors who have guided us through these years. You made learning medicine more meaningful and more fun than I could have imagined. Thank you for everything!

CAITLYN GLOVER It’s hard to believe that our 4 years of medical school have already come to an end. It has been such an honor and a privilege to get to know and train alongside my wonderful and talented classmates. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have built and will fondly remember that “friends that suture together, stay together”. I feel so lucky to have been able to train at the SMP where the staff and teaching faculty have been so supportive and welcoming. I look forward to moving to Vancouver for my Dermatology residency but hope to one day return to practice in the Okanagan!

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ALYSSON HAMILTON The SMP class, faculty and staff have become family over the last 4 years and I am so grateful to be a member of the class of 2020. The support and quality of teaching I received here was amazing. My classmates have been sources of adventure, fun, and support. Some of the memories I hold closest to my heart are the outdoor adventures I shared with many different classmates including mountain biking, backpacking trips, sunsets in Hawaii and ski cabin potlucks. I am sad to be leaving my SMP family but very excited to move to the Kootenay Boundary region for residency in rural family medicine in an outdoor paradise!

CASEY HICKS Congratulations everyone! It has been a pleasure (and lots of fun) to complete medical school with such a wonderful group of people. I hope we all get the chance to meet and work together again! I’m excited to continue my training as a family practice resident in Abbotsford and am wishing all the best to everyone as we commence the next chapter.

KRISTA LOEWEN I’m am so thankful to have been a part of the SMP class of 2020! We were so lucky to have a class filled with exceptionally warm, intelligent and fun people, and to be at a program site with so many talented and dedicated staff. I will always be grateful for the support and care from both the administrative staff and our clinical preceptors here. Becoming a parent during med school was no easy task, but I will never forget the support I had from everyone here in Kelowna (in addition to my incredible partner and family). I’m thrilled to be continuing my training in Family Medicine in Nanaimo - wishing the best to everyone and hope to stay connected with you all!

REBECCA MACLEAN-ANGUSWhat a privilege to have completed medical school at the SMP with so many talented, fun, genuine classmates, and under the guidance of so many inspirational and dedicated preceptors. These last few years have held more challenges and growth than I could have anticipated, and I am so grateful for the countless amazing people who were beside me the whole way. I feel extra lucky that I was able to share this journey with the class of 2019 as well as the class of 2020! I would do it all again in a heartbeat for the friendships I have made over these last few years alone. I am excited for my Family Practice residency in Calgary, and look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that it will bring. Congratulations to my fellow 2020 colleagues, and good luck in this next big phase. It is an honour to go forward and practice medicine with you!

BUZZ MASON Hello, fellow classmates, look at your accomplishments, now back to this, now back at your accomplishments, now back to this. Sadly, there isn’t going to be a stage to walk across in person, but we’ll all be walking across that virtual stage together. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a computer screen in front of all our amazing colleagues, mentors and family members. What’s in your hand? Back at me. I have it, it’s a piece of paper signifying we’ve completed four amazing years together. Look again, the diploma is now our exciting career where we get to represent this fantastic program and excel in each of our specialties. Anything is possible when you are surrounded by bright, caring, amazing people. I’m in a newsletter. Congratulations to everyone and good luck on the next chapter!

JAMES MATTHEWS It’s amazing how quickly the past four years have gone by! I feel incredibly lucky to have spent them with such a fun group of supportive, cohesive, and compassionate people. We’ve become family over the years, and together we’ve enjoyed and endured so much that most will never get to experience. I’m also thankful to have had exceptional supports, mentors, and teachers at the SMP that have taught me so much and given me the opportunity to explore all the possibilities medicine has to offer. It’s exciting, yet surreal that we’ll all be starting the next stage of our journeys together but apart. I look forward to starting my Anesthesiology Residency at UBC, and hope to keep in touch with you all. Congratulations SMP 2020!

LANDON MACGILLIVRAYThe last four years have been an amazing journey. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this graduating class. We were so fortunate to be embraced by the amazing Kelowna medical community. A big thank you to our fabulous student affairs team for the endless support throughout our medical training. Our medical education required hard work and dedication; However, I will always cherish the occasional “Christleton Boys” shenanigans leading to a good work-life balance. Finally, I wouldn’t be here today without the love and support of my Family, Thank you. Next year, I am thrilled to be joining the U of C Rural Family Medicine program (Medicine Hat).

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GABRIELLA MARTINE Part of me doesn’t want to leave this amazing group of people that I have shared these monumental four years with. It is a testament to how supportive and fun the SMP 2020 class has been. There are so many memories to cherish (countless potlucks and parties, camping trips and vacations, and late night on-call chats) and I am so thankful for that. Part of me is beyond excited to see everyone go forward into their residency programs and beyond. And I know we’ll stay close and continue to support each other in the years to come. I am thrilled to be moving to Prince George to continue my journey to becoming a rural family doctor. I want to say the biggest possible thank-you filled with love to all of the staff at the SMP and to my classmates for being so (looks up synonym for) truly amazing.

PATRICIA MASSEL I cannot imagine better company to face the challenges of medical training than my peers in the SMP 2020 class. I am lucky to be able to call each of you a friend and am so proud of what you have accomplished already. I can’t wait to see what you achieve in your careers and know you will touch the lives of all you meet. I am also grateful to our fantastic staff and faculty; thank you for the support and mentorship over the years. Although I am moving away to begin a Family Medicine Residency in Red Deer Alberta, the Okanagan will always hold a dear place in my heart.

ROSIE MAZZOLA It’s hard to believe four years of medical school are already coming to an end, particularly without seeing and hugging everyone one last time. Coming to Kelowna and being a part of the SMP has been a privilege. Training in a smaller centre, with such a dedicated group of faculty, preceptors and administrative staff made a world of difference to my learning and wellbeing. Above all, I am so thankful for my wonderful SMP classmates and what I’m sure will be many lifelong friendships. We’ve laughed through the good times, cried through the tough times (or vice versa), and I’ve learned so much from each of you. Hawaii reunion please?! I’m excited to be starting a new adventure in Ottawa for Internal Medicine very soon! Thank you to everyone at SMP for making this dream possible, and an extra special thank you to my Brian for being endlessly patient and keeping me fed.

TOM MCFARLAND The first day of medical school is undeniably overwhelming, even for an extroverted, lanky, loud, bearded man like me. I found solace when I met my friends in the SMP, who did not share the same physical traits as me, but were just as strange. I had found my weirdos on day one. I have been fortunate to reflect often on my experience with these weirdos, many of whom have become my closest weirdo-friends. They taught me everything you need to know outside the classroom, like how to push yourself after falling down mountain biking, and how to turn a 50-square foot area into an incredible dance party. Most importantly, they taught me how to care about people - to be thoughtful, to love unconditionally, and to make friends into a family. I owe my medical school experience to these people. You made me a better version of that lanky and loud kid from day one.

AMY PLESSIS The past four years have flown by! I couldn’t have imagined a more supportive and fun group to have gone through it with. From our Hawaiian themed dinners to group mountain bikes, there have been many laughs. Thank you to all the exceptional preceptors and staff at SMP, and thank you to my family for their unwavering support. I couldn’t have done it without you! I am excited to be headed to Victoria to begin my residency in Pediatrics!

ALEX RUDECKI From donning a facemask in the OR to donning one in Save-On, it’s been an anticlimactic ending to my most exciting yet stressful 4 years yet. I’m privileged to have seen my class develop into the competent and compassionate beings they are today, and I look forward to consulting them as colleagues. I’d like to thank you all for the memories – clerkship with the A-Team, adventures in Oahu, countless ski trips (ice, ice, baby), and of course all the memoirs at Christleton. Our mentors in Kelowna have been excellent, and have influenced me to pursue Emergency Medicine in the future. I’m sad to leave BC, but am optimistic towards starting my Family Medicine Residency in Calgary. I will keep an open door to anyone who wants to go rock climbing or skiing, or simply just wants to catch up!

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STEPHANIE SCHINDLERCongratulations to all of my classmates in the class of 2020! It has been a privilege to study medicine in Kelowna with such inspirational, talented and fun classmates, along with the support of the caring SMP faculty and staff. This was certainly not the end of medical school I had imagined, but I could not have asked for a better journey to reaching this milestone. These past four years has been filled with some of the best, challenging and defining moments of my life. I might not have made it to this point without the compassion and support of my husband and my family. I am also deeply grateful for the close friendships that I developed and that have made these last four years so wonderful. Thank you for the countless fun memories, including the BEST trip to Hawaii- I will cherish them forever! I look forward to my next chapter in Edmonton, where I will be excited to add cowboy boots to my wardrobe as I start my residency in emergency medicine!

LAUREN SHARPE Sine qua non: an indispensable action, condition, or ingredient; something essential. This is an apt and appropriate phrase for my SMP family. These four years - the journey and adventure - is contingent upon this spectacular community. It is with incredulity that I reflect on these life changing 45 months. Thank you. My gratitude for the laughter, the tears, the hugs, the ice cream, the sushi, the running, the snowball fights, the barbecues, the listening ears, the inappropriate cakes, the support, and - of course - the love. I will carry a piece of each of you as I begin my family medicine residency in Grande Prairie.

MAEGAN STUART My favourite memories are really the friends that I made in SMP. I met some wonderful people and found a best friend who I have shared some amazing travels with. I matched to Psychiatry in Sault Ste. Marie and am excited for the next five years of my life. SMP provided me with the opportunity to find my passion and I am thankful for everyone who has helped me with my journey!

LEAH TRIPPELL SMP 2020, congratulations! We made it and are graduating at such a historic time! What a wild adventure the last four years have been, especially the most recent one. The time flew by so fast and I am so honored to have spent it with the most amazing, talented, brilliant, hilarious future doctors. There is no doubt that the SMP is an incredible medical program that attracts incredible people. We have made some amazing memories together including lunchtime yoga/spartacus, sushi nights, and Hawaii!! I’m sad to be leaving Kelowna, but excited to continue my adventure in Rural Family Medicine residency in Campbell River! I am so grateful for the amazing support of the SMP faculty, staff, and the gracious patients in the Okanagan. To the special people, including my family and partner, who have supported and loved me throughout my scenic route to this point, I wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you all!

ALYSSA ZUCCHET The end of this four-year journey comes at a bitter-sweet time. I am so grateful for the friends I have made that I will now be privileged to call colleagues, and I am deeply saddened that we won’t be able to be together to properly send off the SMP Class of 2020. That being said, I am glad to have so many wonderful memories from these years in Kelowna, whether it was a carefully organized party for the class at Rose’s, a relaxing yoga session in the lecture theatre at lunch, or a quick coffee grabbed with a clerkship buddy while working on a busy ward. I want to extend a sincere thank you to my SMP classmates, as well as mentors, for helping me celebrate the highs of medical school while also supporting the lows. I am so looking forward to reconnecting with my SMP family once we are able, but for now I am off to Saskatoon to begin my path as a Pediatrics resident!

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